The Mob Talker
by LinkedGaming
Summary: Anthony, a young but tough adventurer, comes across a mysterious potion in a dungeon. But when attacked by a rouge creeper in the woods he learns its powers; he can now see mobs as they see each other and speak to them. This story has been cancelled until further notice! -Link
1. The Potion

"Just one more block... just one more block... just one-" A swing of his pickaxe- "more-" another swing- "friggin-" and another- "block!"

With the final swing, the wall of stone standing in his way collapsed, exposing a room made of mossy stone with nothing but a small chest and a lone Zombie spawner in the center.

"There we go... so she didn't lie..." he pulled out a small quill and a leather book and began to write. "What a surprise... anyway, Anthony's Log, year 3, Day 83: Found the dungeon Deanna told me about, wasn't really expecting to though, given her reputation with information, namely the Mythical Ender Stronghold.' Good enough..."

As he turned around, he saw a Zombie emerging from the ground near the spawner.

"Well, looks like I forgot all about you, didn't I?" Anthony said as he pulled out an unused diamond sword. "And they told me that I should've made a diamond pickaxe..."

The Zombie had finally finished standing up. As it looked around for the target it had been summoned to destroy, it took sight on Anthony.

"Took you long enough, you great ugly brute..." He taunted as he twirled the sword in his hand and quickly took a battle stance. "Come on, I ain't got all day!"

The Zombie moaned and quickly rushed at Anthony, arms outward, ready to kill. But as it took it's first swipe, it's arm was quickly stopped by the side of the sword.

"Goodbye..."Anthony muttered with a smirk as he spun around and cut the zombie in half, its body quickly turning to dust, leaving nothing but a few leftover pieces of flesh. "Now lets take care of you before you decide to make a couple more of your little buddies..." He sheathed his sword onto his back and pulled his iron pickaxe out of the belt loop of his jeans. "Aaaand-!" He took a sharp swing with his pickaxe, causing the metal cage to shatter to pieces. "Now we don't have to worry about those little bastards anymore..."

He looked up to see the chest in the corner of the room and a slight smile crept upon his face. "Not much..." he muttered. "But, it'll have to do for now..." He walked over to the chest and took a deep breath before opening it.

"Well crap, there's more in this thing than I thought... let's see here...um... Bread, a bucket, some string, a book, a gold ing - oh, nice! Diamond!" He took most of the items and held them in his palm, where they shrank and disappeared in thin air. "Looks like that's it... wait no... what's this one...?" He looked again to see a small unlabeled bottle containing a strange black liquid. "Huh... that's weird, I've never seen this one before..." He turned quickly at the sounds of bones clacking together somewhere close by. "I'll just take it back to the village and see if anyone else knows what it is... maybe Fiona will..." He held it in his palm, where it vanished into thin air as well. "Now I better get out of here before anything else decides to show up..."

* * *

As he walked into the village, he was immediately greeted by the residents of the small town.

"Hello, Anthony! Would you like to purchase some iron armor? Only 13 emeralds!" Yelled Blake, the town's Blacksmith.

"Nah, man! Sorry, I'm good with my clothes!" Anthony yelled back politely.

Anthony had never really taken interest in the heavy armor that the villagers longed to obtain for protection. He preferred his usual outfit — A gray pullover hoodie, a pair of black sneakers, and a pair of slightly torn denim jeans — and without this outfit he just didn't feel like himself. However, that didn't stop him from forging a pair of iron leggings every now and then for a few emeralds.

"Blake, by the way, have you seen Fiona?" Anthony asked, hoping to figure out what the potion he had found was, and what it was made of.

"Yeah, actually, I saw her at her house a few minutes ago. Cute girl. You gonna try to ask her out or something?" Blake asked mockingly.

"Whatever man, don't you have a job to work on?"

Anthony had always been teased by most of the men and women in the village for being single, but women were the last thing on his mind. He had to guard the village every other night in case of occasional Zombie raid.

He climbed up to the steps of Fiona's house and knocked on the door, which she opened almost immediately.

"Oh, Anthony! Hey! Come in!" She greeted him, moving aside so he could enter her small house. "So whatcha here for? Need a place to rest for the night?"

"No, I think I'll be able to make my way to my house tonight." He answered. Fiona was always polite, especially towards Anthony, but there was a reason to that, and that reason had a pretty annoying price. "But while we're close to the subject, do you have any apples or something for sale? I'm running pretty low on food..."

"No, sorry... but, um... you can have me..." she muttered to herself, trying to be just loud enough for Anthony to hear. "Free of charge..."

"Alright, cut it out. I've told you before, I'm not interested in a relationship right now." And there was the price... he was a good looking kid, which the girls his age always felt to remind him, and a lot of the time, girls spent more time flirting with him than selling him what he was looking for. He was blonde, tall, pale skinned, and he had a good build from mining, digging, and swinging his sword. He didn't think he looked that good, but the villager girls thought different. "Don't you already have a boyfriend? Eh, sweetheart?"

"Not anymore..." She sighed. Fiona had never really been able to keep a boyfriend longer than a month, and she usually had a different one each month. She wasn't a slut by any means, but if she could stick with one guy for longer than a month... "I caught him kissing Blair behind the library yesterday... the two-timing jerk..."

"Oh... well, sorry to hear that Fiona..."

"Its nothing really... I was thinking about leaving him for you, anyway..."

"Look," he started, trying to be as polite as possible. "Maybe in a year, if I've found The End... maybe me and you could get together..."

"You'd be with me?" She exclaimed, obviously glad to hear this. "But why me? Why not Blair, or Lily, or Pamela?"

"Simple. I haven't known them as long as you." He answered. "Plus, Blair's a bit of a cheater, Lily's dad is _extremely_ over protected, and Pamela hasn't shown an interest in me. I think your a cute girl Fiona, but I'm just not ready to focus on a relationship with my journey and all... I have too much research that I need Leeroy to help me with, too many caves I have to explore... you get me, right?"

"Oh, no, of course... I know what you mean... I have school, and I have to help my dad on the farm... but... yeah..."

"I'm glad you understand... hey! Your mother was a witch, right?" He asked her, remembering the whole reason he had come to her house to begin with.

"Yeah, of course... why do you ask?" She answered. She was pretty proud of her mother being a witch. Her mother was a beautiful and sweet woman, but she went missing about a year ago and hasn't been heard from since. Fiona had inherited her mother's knowledge of alchemy, and, according to Anthony, a good portion of her looks.

"You still have her book of potions, right?" He asked. One thing her mom left her before her disappearance was her book of potions, which had saved Anthony's skin many times.

"Yeah, I think so. Why? Did you find some potion in a dungeon?" She asked. She was used to this routine by now; Anthony goes mining, Anthony finds potion, Anthony brings potion to Fiona, Fiona gets book and tells Anthony what it is.

"Yeah, its black and a bit like slime... can you see what you can find?" He asked her, hoping to figure out what the potion he had found was.

"I'll see what I can find..." she told him. That potion book of hers may have been extremely useful at points, but it didn't hold all the potions ever created. As she came back with the book, she sat down and began flipping through page after page in an attempt to find a potion that matched the one that Anthony had found.

"Anything?" Anthony asked, losing his patience very quickly. When he was hungry he was a bit irritable, and Fiona knew this, so she began to look faster.

"Sorry Anthony..." she sighed "She didn't put anything about... whatever this is..." She held up the bottle and shook it a bit.

"Hey, well thanks for looking. I'm sure I'll figure out what it is eventually." He told her, picking up his stuff and standing up.

"Alright, thanks for coming over." She said, getting up as well to go put the book away. "Um… Anthony?"

"Yeah?" He turned to look at her and saw she was blushing. "Hey-er-something wrong...?"

"No... but... earlier, when you said I was a cute girl..." she was blushing even more now, which ultimately got Anthony's attention. "Do you... do you really feel that way about me...?"

"Well, yeah, of course." He responded calmly. Being cool under what would usually make other guys run away in fear was something he had trained himself to do, and this was no exception. "Your a cute girl, a lot of guys feel that way, not just me... but, yeah, I meant it... why do you ask?"

"Oh, um, no reason..." She went up to the door and looked at Anthony like a shy little girl. "I guess you better get going, you know...before it gets dark..."

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." he muttered. Night was when that undead and giant spiders came out. But worse of all, night was when the Creepers came out. Creepers were the most God forsaken creatures ever to walk the face of the planet. They were sneaky, quiet, and destructive little bastards. Few who encountered them ever lived to tell the tale. Killing one was unheard of before Anthony brought back the head of one after the villagers had run him out of town, believing him to be a threat to them. "Well, I better head out now. Goodnight Fiona."

"Hey...?" She was blushing even harder than before.

"Yeah?" He began, but was quickly grabbed by the shoulders and gently pulled towards Fiona, who kissed him on the cheek for a few seconds.

"Goodnight..." she smiled, seeming pretty happy with herself and slightly amused at his hard Anthony was blushing as she slowly pulled back.

"Fiona... oh... um... yeah... g'night..." He stuttered, trying to find something to say to her, but instead walked out the door and towards his home.

* * *

As he walked through the forest with nothing but his sword and the black potion he had found in the dungeon, Anthony kept getting the feeling that he was being watch. He decided to pull out his sword and walk a little bit faster, but the sword was caught in his belt. Suddenly,he heard a faint '_hissss_' coming from the woods beside him. He looked at the spot where the sound was coming from, as he was alert to unknown noises, and was terrified to see a scaly, four legged, green monster charging towards him.


	2. The Creeper Girl

As he walked through the forest with nothing but his sword and the black potion he had found in the dungeon, Anthony kept getting the feeling that he was being watch. He decided to pull out his sword and walk a little bit faster, but the sword was caught in his belt. Suddenly, he heard a faint '_hissss_' coming from the woods beside him. He looked at the spot where the sound was coming from, as he was alert to unknown noises, and was terrified to see a scaly, four legged, green monster charging towards him.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Anthony repeated as the Creeper got closer and closer to him, its loud hiss piercing his ears and sending chills down his reached for the sword on his belt and stepped back, and he had just pulled out the sword when -

"NO!" He yelled again as he stumbled backwards over a tree root and dropped his sword into a lake, where it quickly sank to the bottom. "I'm dead… I'm sooooo dead…" he muttered as the Creeper got closer, slowly approaching him. But something wasn't right; this wasn't normal creeper behavior, it wasn't hostile at all. In fact, it seemed somewhat shy. He quickly dismissed this thought though, as another more important thought hit him.

"The potion…" He muttered, trying to stay calm. _If the potion is good, hopefully I'll live_ he thought. _But if it's not, I'm as good as dead_ _anyways_. He continued to move backwards while searching for the potion in his pocket. _Come on,_ he thought as the Creeper got even closer to him. _Just let me find the -_

"The potion!" He yelled this time as he finally found it and pulled it out, but after it was too late he'd realized that he'd startled the Creeper, which stood shocked before rushing at Anthony. He quickly popped the cork off of the potion and drank a small sip of the slimy substance .

He'd never felt more strange in his life. The potion went down his throat, leaving a sharp sting in the back of it. His vision began to blur and turn green as the Creeper lunged at him, but something was different; there was no longer a creeper, only a girl. The girl landed on top of him, tackling him to the ground, the force knocking the rest of his energy out of him. He blacked out.

* * *

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!"

Anthony slowly began to regain consciousness at the sound of a voice, but whose was it? He slowly opened his eyes to see a girl bent over him with an extremely worried look on her face. She was different from any girl he had ever seen. This girl had long, bright orange hair that went down to her shoulders, and beautiful golden eyes that shone from beneath her green hood.

"Uuuugh…" Anthony moaned while trying to sit up, but quickly fell onto his back again with the feeling that he was going to throw up.

"H-Hello?" She stuttered as he fell onto his back "S-s-sir…? Are...are you o-okay?"

"Define 'Okay'..." He muttered as the nauseous feeling he had in his stomach began to subside. He tried to sit up again and was successful, but the nauseous feeling came back with each move he made.

"Oh thank God!" She yelled, flinging her arms around his neck and nearly knocking him onto his back again. "Oh, I thought I'd killed you or something!"

"Nice to know that I'm still alive." He muttered sarcastically, nudging the girl off of him. "But the thing is -er- who the hell are you?" He knew he must have sounded rude to her, but she didn't seem to care; he was sure that she was too relieved by not being a murderer to be bothered by it.

"Oh, yeah, my name is Cupa!" She said, holding out her hand to him, which he shook in greeting. "Sorry about tackling you earlier, you just kinda scared me with sword and the potion, ya know…"

"What do you mean?" Anthony asked. "It was a Creeper who I pulled the swor-" At that moment the realization hit him. This wasn't any normal girl that he just so happened to come across in the woods late at night.

"What do _you_ mean?" She replied sounding confused. "I _am_ a Creeper. Couldn't you tell?"

It took Anthony a second to realize what was going on, but after a moment he realized that his thoughts were correct. The potion didn't have a negative or positive effect at all. He could see Creepers as people now. But something started nagging at the back of his mind the moment she said this. Why wasn't she trying to attack him? Obviously she still saw him the same way she did before he drank the potion.

"Why… why aren't you trying to kill me?" He asked her. "Creepers are always trying to kill people the moment they see them."

"Why would I want to kill you?" She asked him in return. "You haven't done anything to me, have you?"

"But, when I'm in the forest at night, the Creepers - your kind - they always try to kill me on sight."

"Oh! You mean the bad ones?" She asked him. "We're generally peaceful, but every now and then a bunch come above the ground and try to kill. We try to stop them, but our kind has a distinct way of sneaking around."

"But, they try to kill me when I'm mining, too." He told her, eager to get more answers. "Why do they try to attack me with the Zombies and Skeletons?"

"Seriously?" She said in obvious disgust. "You ever thought that we, um, I dunno, don't really _like_ people breaking into our territory and destroying it?" Anthony hadn't thought about this, but then again, he didn't really see Creepers as people until he met this girl.

"I guess you're right… sorry about all the damage I've done I suppose… didn't really think ya'll minded, just thought you wanted me dead…"

"It's fine, mister." Cupa giggled. At least she was forgiving. "But, I don't think I really caught your name, and you know mine, so I think it's only fair."

"Oh, yeah… the name's Anthony. Nice to meet you." He told her. "Hey, mind helping me up? I don't think I'll be able to do it on my own."

"Sure thing!" Cupa said, offering her hand to him to help him off the ground.

He took her hand and she tried to help pull him up. However, Anthony did most of the work; Cupa seemed to be a little on the weak side. He felt dizzy at first, but the feeling quickly passed after a few seconds. After looking at her clothing, which he could now see more clearly, he realized once more that she was not like any other girl he'd seen. She was wearing a green hoodie that appeared to go down past her waist, making it seem as if she was only wearing the hoodie, but he could just see a pair of light blue denim shorts underneath. She also wore a pair of green boots that went up just above her knees and appeared to be tight on her legs.

"Hey, I can walk you to your home, or cave, or whatever if you want." He told her, trying to be as polite as possible.

"I… I don't think that's an option…" She said, looking a bit depressed and hanging her head down. "I mean - I… I'd rather not. Do… do you have somewhere I can stay…?"

"Um, yeah, I got a place if you need to stay there for a while." He told her. "But, why can't you go back with your family?"

"Thanks, I appreciate it." She said quickly, attempting to dodge Anthony's question. He knew what she was trying to do, but he decided to ignore it. He decided to ask her later.

"No problem." He told her. "It's just down the gravel path right here," He pointed to a long path of gravel. "I should know, I made it myself."

"Oh! Cool!" She said. "Well, you lead the way!"

* * *

As they stepped into the house, Cupa immediately became extremely interested in the things that were inside and the decorations that Anthony had made and placed around the building. She looked at the various paintings that he had bought in the village, took interested in the junk food that he had stored, and experimented drinking a few of the potions in the basement that Anthony had created, choosing the Invisibility potion as her favorite.

She giggled as she slowly reappeared, pulling Anthony backwards with the hood of his pullover while he tried to find her. "I knew that you humans were smart, but this is insane, Anthony!" she put the empty glass bottle that originally contained the potion back inside of a chest for Anthony to use again later. "If the guys on the land knew anything about these you'd be screwed."

She went back up the stairs and laid down on the couch, pulling her hood over her eyes and smiling at Anthony. One thing that he had found out about her was that she was a pretty fun girl. She loved to play, was extremely curious, and wasn't shy at all - most of the time, at least.

He _had_ asked her again why she couldn't go back with her kind earlier, but she simply avoided the question once more and went to explore the rest of the house.

Anthony laid down on the other end of the couch and pulled his hood over his eyes as well, smiling at Cupa in just the same way. She giggled and pulled her hood up a bit to see him better, which he also did.

"Y'know, I don't think we've really gotten to know each other very well," Anthony said, pulling his hood off entirely and sitting up a bit. "If you're gonna be livin' in my house, I think I might need to know a bit more about you, Cupa."

"Well, I don't think you've told me much about yourself, Anthony," she told him with a smirk. "But, ladies first I guess. Let's see, where to start… Well, I live with my dad, that's one thing; my mom died when I was young. The other guys say I'm pretty good at sneaking around, which I don't deny at all. I'm fifteen, my favorite color is red, and I don't have any friends - well, I do have one, but she generally stays on the surface, so I don't get to see her very often. The other girls in my group just say I'm nothing but trouble…" she trailed off, sounding a bit hurt. She stared at the ceiling for a minute before before blinking and shaking her head. "Anyways, I think it's your turn."

"Alright then. I don't know who my parents are really. I don't remember anything about my childhood before I was 10 actually - it's a long story, I'd rather not have to explain it. But anyway, the villagers said I'm pretty good with a bow and arrow, and I know I'm badass with a sword. I'm also fifteen, my favorite color is green, and I have a few friends in the village. That's pretty much it. Only thing left I can think of are my building skill. In case you haven't noticed, I built this entire place myself. And most of the furniture too." He sat up entirely and leaned back with his feet on the table in front of the couch. "Hey, Cupa?"

She looked up at him from under her hood. He could see she was still hurt about the things the others in her group have said about about her. "Hm?"

"You said your only friend is that one girl that stays on the surface, right?"

She nodded and looked at him from under her hood. "Yeah…"

"Well, I'm your friend, right?" he asked her, smiling.

She smiled back and nodded again before laying back and pulling her hood back over her eyes. "Yeah… I guess we are."

**A/N: A.) I get that I made edits to Cupa's outfit and the age is just made up to match the story. Don't hate, I needed to do some changing to make her fit in the story.**

**B.) I also get that the chapter is a bit choppy (In my opinion anyways) But don't worry, the next chapter will be much more well written.**

_**~Link**_


	3. The Runaway

It had been three days since Anthony had found Cupa in the woods. At first, he thought maybe having a Creeper living in his house wouldn't be the best of ideas, but after a few hours of her living with him, he realized that he enjoyed her company a lot. He generally spent most of his nights alone, and he used to feel cut off from the rest of the world. But ever since Cupa moved in, he's felt more connected and noticed. Every time Cupa lays down on the other side of his bed at night, he feels good knowing that someone depends on him - that someone cares about him. Cupa felt this way, too, but she would never tell Anthony herself.

But one thing had been biting at him ever since he met her in the woods a few days ago - _Why_ was she unable to go back with her people, and _why_ was she so bent on not telling him this?

He'd decided to ask her about it, and he wasn't going to let her change subjects or shrug off his question again. If she was living in his house, he needed to know why.

_Try to be as polite as possible_ he thought as he sat down on the other end of the couch that she spent a lot of time reading on. _You don't want her to think that you don't want her here. _

"Cupa, I-I need to know something, and please don't try to shrug it off this time." He told her as he looked her in the eyes to get her attention. "I need to know why you can't go back with your group, and I'm not gonna let you change subjects like the other times."

"A-Anthony, I don't know what y-" She started, but he cut her off before she could finish.

"Don't lie to me, Cupa. You know what I'm talking about, and I need an answer. You're living in my house, so I need to know."

"Anthony… if you don't want me living here… I- I can understand… I mean…" She told him, looking as if she was on the verge of tears.

"No… no Cupa, of course not…" He reached out and grabbed the hand that she had in her lap, and squeezed it gently. He knew he couldn't pull off polite. "Cupa… I just want to know… I like it when you're here, I swear. It's nice to have company. If you don't want to tell me, Cupa, it's fine, I understand."

Cupa blushed as Anthony held her hand, but he saw a single tear fall onto the cushion of the couch as he finished. "I- I- no… y-you're right… if I'm living here, y-you need to know… o-okay…" She said, sobbing softly. Whatever the reason was, she obviously was not proud of it. "Where do I start… I guess that day before…"

* * *

As she walked through the cave system to her secret spot, Cupa thought she heard something behind her. She waited for a minute, but decided it was just some crumbling rock from one of the cobbled stone patches she had stepped on. She was almost there, to the spot where no one could bother her - a spot where she felt alone and at peace. She stepped through the small opening just big enough for her to fit through, and admired the beautiful scene before her. A tall waterfall was rushing down the wall of the small ravine, it's water sparkling and reflecting the blueish shine of the many diamonds growing from the walls. She sat down near the edge of the ravine, hugged her knees, and tried to forget the day she had just had. She had gotten into a fist-fight that she had nearly lost, all because some guy liked her and his oh-so popular girlfriend just had to blame Cupa for it. She remembered it well, the confrontation, being pushed against the wall, the way the girl yelled "You're trying to steal him from me, aren't you, you little whore?" and the swings of fists, the hair pulling, the scratching. She felt horrible as she saw the girl lying before her, knocked out cold.

"She deserved it…" Cupa muttered to herself. "I didn't even know who that guy _was_! Why would I want to steal him from her!?" She was getting angry again, and she knew she shouldn't. Her anger had already gotten her into enough trouble that day, and the last thing she needed was for herself to do something stupid. She took a deep breath and looked down into the water, seeing the red glow of the chunks of redstone in the rocks, the shine of the diamonds in the walls of the ravine. She looked up and saw something in the diamonds right in front of her; a reflection behind hers - three different figures. She quickly turned around and saw the girl that she had fought standing right behind her, along with two girls that she supposed were there for backup.

"How did you get in here!?" Cupa yelled, but the girl she fought ignored her and snapped her fingers, signaling the other two to grab her, which they did. "Let go of me!" She yelled in protest. "Get off!"

"What'cha doin' down here, Little Miss Man Stealer?" The girl asked Cupa cooly, looking her straight in the eyes while the other two pulled her up by her arms and held her in place. "Come to plot out how you're gonna steal my boyfriend, huh? Or how about how you're gonna get rid of me so you can have him for yourself?"

"Let go of me! Get them off!" Cupa yelled back at her. "I don't want your damn boyfriend! I don't even _know_ him!" She struggled to get free again, but it was no use. There were two of them holding her still, and Cupa wasn't strong by any means.

"Don't you lie!" The girl yelled at Cupa, throwing her left knee in Cupa's stomach. Cupa coughed up a bit of blood and looked the girl in the eyes again, Cupa's eyes now shining with tears. "I know you're trying to take him! I know you want me out of the picture!"

"I'm _not_ lying!" Cupa yelled. "What the hell don't you understand about that!?"

"I said don't lie, Cupa!" The girl yelled again, throwing her knee into Cupa's stomach again, nearly knocking her out. "Since you want me out of the way so much, how about I turn the tides! Throw her off girls!"

Cupa pleaded for them not to throw her off the edge, but they ignored her and slowly dragged her toward the ravine, hitting her along the way to get her to stop talking.

"Have a nice fall, Cupa!" The girl said sarcastically as her two friends heaved Cupa back and the tossed her forward, letting go and throwing her into the ravine.

* * *

She stuck her hand out of the water and felt around, hoping to find something - anything - to grab on to so she could pull herself up. She felt the surface of wet stone and struggled to pull herself up and out of the water, but managed. She landed on the hard, wet stone coughing and gasping for air, and she laid down, panting, trying to remember why she was where she was. After a few minutes of thinking, she finally remembered, and all of the horrible memories came flooding back. It was too much for her; she rolled onto her side, curled up, and began to cry. Why was it always _her_ that was picked on; why was _she_ always blamed for everything; why did everyone hate _her_ - _why_?

After a few minutes, she stopped crying and rolled over onto her back. She needed to find a way to prove to them that she wasn't weak. She needed to find a way to get them to stop hating her. But what could she do? What would be so unforgettable the she'd be able to get the others to stop picking on her? What could she do that hadn't already been done? She laid there and she thought, and after several minutes she finally knew what she could do to win their respect. She was going to go to the surface.

She thought it through as well as she could. She would wait until midnight, where she wouldn't be able to be spotted by Hunters as easily, and she could blend in the the Runaways, the Creepers that escaped to the surface to kill, and she would come back after three days and tell the others that she had gone to the surface, but she'd tell her dad that she was just exploring the cave and got lost for a few days. But she was going to need proof that she had been on the surface or else they may not believe her. She was going to bring back a pumpkin, something no one in her group had ever seen, only heard about, and then she'd have all the proof she needed that she had been to the surface and back without being spotted. Luckily, Cupa had a good skill at sneaking, so she was hardly ever caught when she sneaking around. So she climbed up a wall of stone and eventually found her way back to her family's part of the cave. She didn't sleep that night, she only waited until she thought it was midnight, checking every now and then to see if it was time. She _would_ earn everyone's respect, or she'd die trying.

* * *

When midnight rolled around, she got up and moved to check near a crack in the ceiling to check what time it was - midnight. She quietly sneaked over to a chest with her things, grabbed a few apples to eat over the next few days, an extra shirt in case something happened to the hoodie she was already wearing, and headed out towards an entrance to the surface.

She had begun to climb the extremely large wall when she heard thought she heard someone walking nearby. She climbed a bit more quickly and was almost half way up the wall when -

"Cupa!?" A man yelled from behind her. She couldn't see who this man was and didn't recognize his voice, but she wasn't taking chances on the guy being authority, so she tried to climb as fast as she could. "Cupa! Get down here! You're not getting away!"

She could tell from the noises below her that the man was now climbing after her, and he was doing it much faster than she was; it was only a matter of time before he caught up to her. She reached out to grab another ledge, but as she grabbed it, the rock crumbled and broke, causing her to fall a few feet and closer to the man below her before she caught herself on another ledge below her. She climbed faster, she was only three feet away, two feet, she felt the grass above her, she was almost there. But just at that moment, she felt someone grab her ankle. She was so close, but she couldn't make it with the man grabbing her ankle. She couldn't pull herself up, and the man didn't help by attempting to pull her back down.

"Let go!" She yelled at him, kicking her foot back in an attempt to shake him off. After a minute or so, she kicked him in the face and climbed onto the grass as fast as she could. She didn't even look down as she stopped in her tracks hearing a spine chilling CRACK coming somewhere from below in the tunnel. She knew what she had done as her eyes began to shine with tears and she fell onto her back. Whoever that man was was longer going to be able to chase after her. The blow to the face had knocked him out. He was dead.

* * *

She had just finished telling her story to Anthony. He tried to comfort her and tell her it was okay, but he didn't think he'd be able to relate. She continued to cry into his shoulder for several minutes before she started to speak again.

"I c-can't go back now!" She sobbed into his shoulder. "T-they'll f-find his… his…"

"They'll find the guy." He finished for her. It didn't take a detective to tell that she'd never felt so horrible in her life, and he wanted to do all he could to cheer her up; Anthony couldn't stand to see girls cry, he never had, and he felt even worse seeing brave, cheerful, sweet Cupa breaking down right in front of him.

"Y-y-yeah…" She continued. "They'll f-find him and realize th-that I'm missing, an-and they'll know that I… that I… that I d-did it and th-that I ran away! And if I go back…" She began to cry even harder. Anthony didn't need her to finish. From what he understood, Runaways were sentenced to death if they were caught, and not only was Cupa now a Runaway, but she had killed another member of her group, albeit accidentally.

"Cupa…" Anthony started, but he didn't know what to say, so instead he put an arm around her and held her close, whispering in her ear that it was okay. "You don't have to go back Cupa, they'll never hurt you, I promise. You're mine now, and I'm not gonna let anybody hurt you. You understand?"

"Anthony… th-thank you…" She whispered.

"It's fine, Cupa…" He told her. He looked at the clock and saw that it was almost eight o'clock. "Hey… how about me and you eat dinner and then tomorrow we'll go outside and just have some fun. What'd'ya say?"

"Y-yeah… I'd like that" She said, her eyes still red from crying, but a small smile on her face. "What's for dinner?"

"Your favorite." He whispered into her ear with a smile. "Pumpkin pie!"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She yelled, flinging her arms around his neck and jumping up and down. She quickly kissed him on the cheek and ran to the kitchen.

She was glad she was living with Anthony. Maybe she did the right thing by running away from home. Maybe running across Anthony in the woods that day was fate. She knew that Anthony was the first person to actually care about her. He was the first person to show her kindness. He was the first person who didn't think she was a waste of space. And she knew that she loved him for it.

**A/N: Ah, yes, I broke my own heart trying to write this chapter. So many feels. One thing I want to get straight though is that Cupa is not some sorta cry-baby; imagine if all of that happened to you? But, all warnings aside, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, took me forever to write, what with story thiefs and school.**

**~Link (LinkedGaming)**


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